In Memoriam: Rajan Chandra

Posted on April 22, 2020

Engineering Professor Rajan Chandra (left) was at Cal Poly Pomona for 35 years.

Rajan Chandra, an electrical and computer engineering professor, died on March 23.

Chandra called Cal Poly Pomona home for 35 years. He taught a wide variety of classes for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and supervised many undergraduate and graduate student projects. From 2001 to 2002, he was the interim director of graduate students for the College of Engineering and was the director of graduate studies for ECE from 2003 to 2004.

“Rajan was a great professor who always helped students. He was also a great friend,” says Mohamed Rafiquzzaman, ECE professor. “It’s heartbreaking for me that he is gone. I will always miss him.”

Rafiquzzaman was among the group that hired Chandra as a lecturer, and he found Chandra to be very knowledgeable and dynamic. Together, Rafiquzzaman and Chandra co-authored the textbook “Computer Architecture” in 1987.

Zekeriya Aliyazicioglu, ECE professor, says he owes what he knows to Chandra. He adds that his lectures, methods, and teaching style all shadow Chandra’s.

“Chandra truly cared for his students, and he saw great potential in every single one of them,” says Aliyazicioglu.

In memory of Chandra, Aliyazicioglu has offered his students the many textbooks Chandra left with Aliyazicioglu before he retired.